GUIDE TO CASTLE WARS Written by AnimeRPGFan © Lee Fitzgerald 2005 Contents: 0. Version History--If I felt the need to make a change somewhere, this'll tell you where I messed up. 1. Introduction--Where I stand up in front of the class and make an ass of myself. 2. What is Castle Wars--A basic explanation of just what this game is. 3. Castle Wars--This section will give you a basic understanding of the different areas of Castle Wars. 3a. The Castles--The anatomy of your home bases. 3b. The Field--That big bunch of grass and river 'tween the Castles. 3c. The Underground--A large expanse of tunnels beneath the bloodshed. Don't think you're any safer from it, though! 3d. The Forts--The 4 lonely buildings in the dead-center of all the mayhem. 3e. The Lobby--Here is where you can prepare, get prizes, and choose your patron god to fight for. 3f. Waiting Rooms--No fighting to be done just yet. Just kick back and relax while the last game finishes. 4. Concepts--Now that you know the geography, let's get to the meatier parts of playing. 4a. Items--Numerous helpful little gadgets that your patron gods were kind enough to provide a neverending supply of. 4b. Roles and Classes--If beating the snot out of anything that moves isn't your thing... 4c. Prizes--Little incentives for continued play of this game. 4d. Strategies--Will you rush the enemy with brute force or play your moves like a game of Chess? This may help you decide. 5. Etcetera--Just in case I missed something or other in the above sections. 6. Credits--The last part of the guide, giving credit where credit is due. ___________________________________ 0. Version History 8-23-05: V.1.0: The first installment of the guide is up! Hope you enjoy it! 11-30-05: V.1.1: Minor changes have been made, and a new strategy has been updated. ___________________________________ 1. Introduction Hey, everyone! I'm ARF, and this is my first written guide ever. I decided to write this to help reduce the amount of folks who know absolutely nothing about how to play by teaching them. Hopefully, this means there will be fewer Level-30s trying to get the flag, only to die within 10 seconds and go into a cursing fit. If you like it, great! If not, feel free to e- mail me and tell me what you think could be better. Any suggestions are welcome, and you will be credited if it's put in here. RuneScape is Copyrighted to Jagex. I do not own it in any way, nor do I have anything to do with its creation. This guide is a User-Created work and not made by Jagex; They are not responsible for any mistakes that may occur within this guide. Any questions, comments (of the non-flaming variety), suggestions, etc. can be sent to videomaniac123@hotmail.com. This guide is to be posted on GameFAQs and GameFAQs alone. If you see this anywhere besides on GameFAQs, please contact me immediately with a link to the violation so that I can properly request its removal. Thank you. So without further ado, I bring you: A guide to Castle Wars! ___________________________________ 2. What is Castle Wars? Castle Wars is one of many mini-games within Runescape. It's located southwest- ish from Ardounge, and directly south from the Observatory. As such, it is a Members-Only thing. You can also use a Ring of Dueling to get here ('Rub' the ring and choose the second option). Castle Wars is an excellent game for those who like to fight but don't want to risk losing items such as with the wilderness; if you die, you won't lose any items, and you can't get skulled whilst here. There's no level of danger here unlike in the wilderness, which means that for all they care, a Level 126 could attack a level 3. The entire place is a multicombat zone as well, so expect to be ganged upon. The goal of Castle Wars is something like Capture the Flag: You run over to the enemy castle and take their Standard, and then make a mad dash to your own castle, plant the Standard where your own goes, and then your team scores a point. Each game of Castle Wars lasts 20 minutes, and whichever team has the most points at the end gets 2 Castle Wars tickets which can be redeemed for other prizes from Lanathus (In the building lobby). In the event of a tie, everybody gets 1 ticket. The losers get absolutely zip. The game keeps count of how many kills you land, but it doesn't affect your prize in any way whatsoever. Kinda pointless, huh. Once a game has ended, you have 5 minutes to prepare again for the next game (Don't worry, there's a bank-chest in the Lobby, similar to the Duel Arena). ___________________________________ 3. Castle Wars This section explains each part of the Wars Territory, and you'll benefit greatly from knowing the land. ----- 3a. The Castles Your home-bases. The Saradomin castle is located in the southeast corner of the field and the Zamorak castle in the northwest. This is where you start the game, where you respawn if you die, and where you can find supplies to help battle the enemy. Much of the fighting goes on in these zones, and these are also where you can find the Standards you have to capture/protect. There are 4 floors to the castle, 5 if you count the Ramparts. -Ground Floor: Where the seige begins, and thus one of the major chokepoints in the battle. There are 4 ways for the enemy to get in: The locked single door, which the enemy will have to unlock if they find it closed (Or open it from inside); The double doors, which the enemy will have to destroy if it's closed (Or open it from inside); The underground ladder, which leads to the bulk of the supplies, or they can use a Climbing Rope to get on top the Ramparts, whereupon they climb down the staircase and end up close to the locked single door. Almost all of the supplies for the game can be found here, and are explained in the Items section. -Ramparts: This is the main line of defense; a large concrete wall that surrounds the castle itself. Accessed by a stairway next to the Locked Single Door, Mages and Rangers on defense can plant themselves here and fire upon any advancing enemy forces on the field (provided they're within range, of course). The Ramparts also house the Catapult on a corner jutting out, which uses Rocks as ammunition and can deal a lot of damage if it hits. More info on the Catapult can be found in the Roles and Classes subsection. The Ramparts have a destructible Double door on one side, and an unlockable Single door on the other. You'd do well to keep these closed and in good shape if they're in your castle. If the double-doors are destroyed, you can repair them with a Toolbox. -First Floor: About 75% of this floor is occupied by the Respawn Room, which can only be entered by members of the same team (Zamorak acolytes in the Zamorak castle and Saradomnists in the Saradomin castle). In the respawn room is a table with Bandages, and it is the only safe zone in the war-area (But you can only stay in it for two minutes at a time; I'm not sure what happens if you stay any longer). There is a staircase that heads upwards, closer to the Standard's resting place, and a ladder in the respawn room that leads to a trapdoor directly under the standard (The trapdoor cannot be used to get into the respawn room unless you are of the same team). There is also a staircase (going down) that leads very close to the Rampart-staircase, and a downwards ladder which leads straight to the supply room. -Second Floor: This one is even smaller than the first floor, but should be well defended anyway, for if you go up, you'll find yourself looking straight at the throne of the team-standard. A trapdoor there leads to the respawn room, and other than that there's just the staircase going down which you probably used to get to this floor. -Top Floor: A very small floor, only 4x4 in area, this floor should probably be best-defended of all. The standard lies here, so if it's your castle and you find that standard gone, you better go out and look for it! ----- 3b. The Field Once you leave the castle, you'll be in a rather large plain. The river is cut in half diagonally by a river running through. On the far sides of the river are Stepping Stones that you can use to cross (Which can impede enemy pursuers since each stone must be hopped one at a time, giving little time for an attack), and in the center, there are forts. The field- area immediately surrounding the two Castles is dotted with spear walls; Proper placement of barricades can really make these hell to get around. There's a decent chance that someone holding their own flag is hiding in the far corners of the Field. ----- 3c. The Underground If you go to the ladders in the back alleys of the supply room, or down the trapdoors in the forts, you'll find a small network of tunnels that run straight under the Field. Bring a Pickaxe or some Explosive Potions to bypass the Blockades (It's often wise to re-collapse the walls once you've passed them to detain pursuers). That the ladders at each end lead right to inside the Castles allows the Underground to be used at a route of attack; Enemies that have their defenses concentrated upon the ramparts won't be able to do much to stop invaders striking from inside. Anyone who does attack in this way would do well to grab some more Barricades or Explosive Potions so that they can escape easier once grabbing the flag. ----- 3d. The Forts The 4 Forts in the center of the area can prove to be a vital chokepoint, as they are the easiest way to get from one side of the river to the other. As such, this is basically where a Meleer goes to cover defenses, but anybody can do defense here, really. Mages and Rangers should head to the top of the forts and block access with Barricades before raining long- range death upon their foes. Especially useful to have a Mage here so that if one of their own is taking the enemy flag home, the Mage can cast Bind/Snare/Entangle on the pursuers to help ensure that the runner lives with his bounty. On the sides, between some forts are a couple of trapdoors which lead to the Underground. ----- 3e. The Lobby This is where you enter, and where you show up when the game ends. The lobby is run by Lanathus, who can sell you a Castlewars Manual for 5 coins, or can sell you various (untradeable) trinkets for the tickets that you earn whilst playing. There's a bank chest in the southeast corner of the building, and a door on the northeast corner where you can go on a wall and watch part of the siege of a Saradomnist Castle (That's the only part you can view, really). On the west side of the lobby are 3 portals. Walking into the Blue one takes you to the Saradomin Team, walking into the Red one pledges your alliegance to Zamorak, and passing through the Green portal will take you to whichever team has less players (Green portal represents Guthix, i.e. Balance). There's a chance that there are too many people will be on the Saradomin or Zamorak team, so if you try to enter a portal and it says "There are too many people on this team!", well that's just too bad. You cannot enter the portals if you're wearing a Helmet or Cape, or have any noncombat items in your inventory (This includes Castlewars Tickets or anything you might've found within the game). Going through the portals will take you to... ----- 3f. The Waiting Rooms This is where you wait while the game-in-progress finishes or while players are given their 5-minute grace period to prepare and reenter the team's waiting rooms. As soon as you come in, you will either be given a Red or Blue Cape'n'Hood, depending on which team you're on. Once inside, you can chat with folks, discuss strategies, or just hang out. A fun little tidbit about the Waiting Rooms is if you enter a portal while wearing an item that represents a different god, you will be transformed into an animal, depending on what it was. I believe it goes something like this (Feel free to correct me): Enter the Saradomin Portal with an item of Zamorak or Guthix, and you'll be turned into a bunny. Enter the Guthix Portal with an item of Zamorak or Saradomin and you'll be turned into a sheep. Enter the Zamorak Portal with an item of Guthix or Saradomin and you'll be turned into an Imp. The items that marks the transformation can vary from God Books, to Holy/Unholy Symbols, to even Robes. Whilst in animal- form, you cannot run or do anything except log out, change what music is playing, talk, walk, and private-message your friends. Once you leave the Waiting Room via the Portal (Which will take you back to the Lobby) or once the game starts, you will be returned to your regular human self. ___________________________________ 4. Concepts Enough about the land, let's get on to the things that actually affect your performance! ----- 4a. Items -Bandages: Probably the most important item in Castle Wars, Bandages will heal about 10% of your health, and will cure poison and restore 30% of your energy. You can also use Bandages on a person to heal them. Its supply table was moved from the supply room to the respawn room to prevent flag-holders from repeatedly healing, guaranteeing an unfair victory. -Climbing Rope: Grab a few of these, and scroll over the top of the Ramparts until you see "Use Climbing Rope with Battlements". Then click, and click again on the rope to hoist yourself onto the Ramparts so that you can wreak hell or get brutally mauled by the mages and rangers perched up there. Climbing Ropes can't be taken down once set up; They must fade away. -Tinderbox: This item is found on the ground instead of on Supply Tables. You can use it on a Catapult to raze it to an unusable state, or on a Barricade to burn it away. -Explosive Potion: Whatever a Tinderbox or Pickaxe does, the Explosive Potion does instantly. Each one is used one time only. Whatever you do, don't drop it, or you'll take 15 Damage. -Toolbox: Grab one and only one of these; It's used an infinite number of times. You can use this on a destroyed Catapult to restore it to mint condition, or if your team's double-doors were destroyed, you can use it to repair them to brand- spanking new condition. -Barricade: An essential Defensive tool, the Barricade can be set up to block an advance. If there's a way to go aroudn it, it must be done manually; The Pathfinder AI doesn't register the Barricade and will make you walk right into it instead of going around it. Be warned, though: Each team can set up only 10 barricades at a time, and the barricades will block ALL advances, friend or foe. -Rock: This is ammunition for the Catapult, plain and simple. -Bucket: Like the Tinderbox, this is found on the ground instead of on a supply table. Fill it with water from the Tap so that you can use it to put out a tinderbox-induced fire that's still burning before the object becomes damaged/destroyed. -Pickaxe: There are bronze Pickaxes on the Supply Table, but you're better off bringing your own Rune Pickaxe. You use this to Clear or Create Blockades in the Underground Tunnel. ----- 4b. Roles and Classes You're probably thinking, "Well, duh, there's Melee, Range, and Mages. Everybody knows that!" Well, when it comes to castle wars, there's more than just Melee, Range, and Magic. The many CW-exclusive items give birth to a decent number of Support Roles, which is perfect for those who aren't quite suited to taking on 80+ combat folks (Or aren't good at fighting in general), which there will be a lot of. For example: Medic: Healers. They stock up on bandages, bandages, and more bandages, and either stick to the ramparts, healing the Mage and Range defenses, or they go out to heal the other members of their team. Especially someone who has just gotten the enemy flag and is making a mad dash. Sapper: In Medieval times, sappers were engineers in an army, who would work to weaken the defenses of the enemy castles/forts/etc. In Runescape, the sapper takes Barricades, Climbing Ropes, Explosive Potions, Tinderboxes, the works. From there, they run to the enemy base and set up their things in a way that will slow down the enemy or speed up the advance of their own team. For example, setting up a lot of climbing ropes so that Meleers can storm the ramparts en masse and take out the defenses. Engineer: Basically the exact opposite of a Sapper. Engineers will take everything a Sapper does and apply it in ways to their own base to help their team's defenses out. Artillery: These fellas take a Toolbox, a bandage or two, and load up the rest with Rocks. They man the catapault and fire at any enemies that come within range. It often helps if they have a friend acting as Recon so that they can fire more accurately and more importantly not fire shots that'll take down half of their own team. In order to use the Catapult, simply go up to the Catapult on your team's Ramparts and click on it. A window with a map of sorts of the area will show up, with a red X on it. Use the arrows to direct the X to where you want to fire, and then click "Fire!" to launch the Rock to where you directed. The shots are slow, though, and by no means guaranteed to hit your enemies, or anyone for that matter. The impact from the Rock will damage anyone in the vicinity, friend or foe, so aim carefully or you'll be called a noob and yelled at to get off the catapult. ;) You can use your imagination to think up other useful roles for use as an aid to your team. If you think of a good one, feel free to let me know and I'll give you credit for it. ----- 4c. Prizes Now then, as I said before, the team that wins gets 2 Castlewars Tickets, and in the event of a draw, everybody gets 1. You can take these tickets to Lanathus to trade for various cool-looking trinkets. Take note, though, that ALL prizes from Castle Wars, including the tickets, are not tradeable. All prices are in Castlewars tickets, save for the Manual, which is in standard Coins. Red-Blue Decorative Armor (Roughly equal to Steel Armor, normally has 100 in Stock) -Medium Helm: 4 -Platelegs: 6 -Platebody: 8 -Kiteshield: 6 -Blade: 5 Silver-Blue Decorative Armor (Roughly equal to Mithril Armor, normally has 50 in stock) -Medium Helm: 40 -Platelegs: 60 -Platebody: 80 -Kiteshield: 60 -Blade: 50 Gold-Black Decorative Armor (Rougly equal to Adamant Armor, normally has 25 in stock) -Medium Helm: 400 -Platelegs: 600 -Platebody: 800 -Kiteshield: 600 -Blade: 500 Castlewars Cloak (Red): 10 (Normally has 200 in stock) Castlewars Hood (Red): 10 (Normally has 200 in stock) Castlewars Cloak (Blue): 10 (Normally has 200 in stock) Castlewars Hood (Blue): 10 (Normally has 200 in stock) Castlewars Manual: 5 (Normally has 1000 in stock) ----- 4d. Strategies Here is a list of various strategies one might use to help win the game. Parentheses indicates what type of strategy they are. If you have any strategies of your own, please send 'em in and you will be credited! -Blitzkrieg (One-time offensive): If your team is about to lose in a game, rush back to your Castle and stock up on some Barricades, Explosive Potions, and Bandages. Then use the Portal in the respawn room to go back to the waiting room (You will keep the items in the waiting room, but they will vanish if you go back to the lobby). Wait there until the next game starts, and then rush into the enemy castle with your already-prepared self before they have time to mount a suitable defense, take the flag, and run. -Magical Wall (Defensive): Get some maging friends to cover Defense on the Ramparts with you. Stock up runes for a lot of Bind/Snare/Entangle and make it a priority to use it on any enemy who comes near. Stock up on some other offensive spells to deal damage in the meantime (Curse and Vulnerability work well, too, so that any Meleeing defenders can help out more). Rangers can also perch up here to rain arrowey death upon those less vulnerable to magic. -The Infamous Flag-Holder (Offensive): When an enemy takes your flag, wait until he's out of the Castle grounds and kill him. Pick up the flag and RUN. So long as you don't die, the enemy won't be able to score. While an effective strategy, this is also the most dishonorable one and you will, 95% of the time, be hated for doing it. Submitted by yugi209179 and Seasnake4 pretty much at the same time: -The Crusher (Support, Somewhat offense): What you do is fill your inventory with Explosive Potions, and maybe a pickaxe if that's your style. Go to the Underground and make sure that you're standing next to a cleared tunnel. When an enemy is about to go through, use the Explosive Potion to instantly collapse the rock wall. If you time it correctly, it'll instantly kill the one who was running through. This is useful to halt someone pursuing a flag-bearer, and also for just plain annoying the enemy. ___________________________________ 5. Etcetera ~~Section Pending for later Use~~ ___________________________________ 6. Credits Thanks to Jagex for making this awesome game! Thanks to GameFAQs for hosting it. Thanks to the countless Members of Runescape who've said a thing or two during gameplay that helped contribute to this guide! Thanks to boredom for allowing me to write this first version in one sitting! Thanks to yugi209179 and Seasnake4 for input on a strategy.